Thursday, March 13, 2014

John King's "Bar Exam" for Teachers Who Are Paid Like Clerks

New York Education Commissioner
John King and a Board of Regents committee have released a full-throated
endorsement of the state's controversial new teacher certification system.

In a statement distributed this
morning, King rejected calls to postpone the implementation of the new system,
which the department calls the "bar exam" for teachers. In response
to criticism that the system has been rushed, King said the state began working
on it in 2009 and has spent $11.5 million in federal Race to the Top money
helping teacher colleges prepare for it.

He said the system was originally
scheduled to begin last year, but the state postponed it to this year to ensure
colleges and students were prepared for it.

King said the state is raising
academic standards for students and that "success of that effort requires
that we demand just as much excellence from the educators who will teach
them."

Many aspiring teachers and their
professors have raised red flags
over the new system, which includes three certification tests created or
modified by the education giant Pearson Inc. and a new assessment called the
Educative Teacher Performance Assessment, or edTPA.

The edTPA was created by a group at
Stanford University but is being implemented by Pearson. It is widely expected
to result in fewer teacher candidates receiving certification than in previous
years.

Teacher candidates must submit an
extensive portfolio to Pearson that includes lesson plans, student assessments,
video clips of classroom teaching and written narratives detailing the
student-teacher's approach. Students foot the $300 cost of the submission.

The submissions are graded by
remote evaluators hired by Pearson and paid $75 per submission. The evaluators
are expected to spend about two hours grading each one.

Critics say the exams have been
rushed into place, are too expensive for students and put too heavy a burden on
them as they pursue their student teaching. They also question the involvement
of Pearson, which holds numerous multimillion-dollar contracts with the state
Education Department.

New York and Washington are the
only states using the edTPA assessment as part of their teacher certification
process, although 32 states are working with it in some fashion. . . .

Personally I think it is ridiculous that a teacher candidate has to take 4 tests; ALST, EAS, CST Multi Subject and edTPA. For those not aware, the CST Multi Subject Test is 3 tests in one; ELA, Math and Science.For special education you need 5 tests for certification. Let's be honest here. The state is not looking for more qualified teachers, they are looking for revenue. It is going to cost the average teacher candidate over $1,200 in testing! That is just in testing which excludes the fees of $29.00 for each practice test and $100 for each workshop for test prep. Oh yeah..and teacher candidates also have to pay for fingerprinting which is about $200, Child Abuse Workshop $50, DASA Training, School Violence Intervention Prevention Workshop $40 and $50 for certification application. How will college students be able to pay for these tests on top of paying for tuition and professional development workshops? If teacher a candidate demonstrates proficiency in all these exams they should be compensated monetarily with a salary that matches their education and training. The public and the state really don't have a clue what teachers go through; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/nyregion/2-students-arrested-after-putting-rat-poison-in-teachers-water-police-say.html?_r=0